LNER's classic Intercity 225, First Class: London to Leeds in 2 hours

A blast from the past today. Come with me as I travel on one of LNER's older classic intercity 225 trains up the east coast mainline from London King's Cross to Leeds. We'll look at the stations, the lounges, the service on board and the interiors of the first class carriages on this wonderful high-speed journey up north. And good morning from King's Cross station here in London. Just over four years ago I took one of the very first Azuma trains run by LNER between Leeds and London King's Cross and today I'm doing the journey in the opposite direction but we're taking something a little bit older. Come with me and enjoy the video. King's Cross station was opened in 1852 and is one of the major railway stations in London. It's the southern terminus of LNER's network, a company which serves the east coast mainline linking London with Edinburgh, York, Leeds and Newcastle as well as 50 other stations in both England and Scotland. The station's public areas were revamped and extended in 2012 and I still think this is one of the nicest railway concourses anywhere in the UK. If you're feeling fancy and you've got a first class ticket you can enter the first class lounge, the entrance for which is tucked away next to the little waitrose. As long as your first class ticket is valid on LNER you can get in. If you've got a first class ticket on other companies leaving King's Cross like Grand Central or Great Northern you'll have to make do with the concourse I'm afraid. Now the lounge isn't what it was. It's still a quiet and pleasant place to hang out for most of the day but sadly the drinks and snacks are pretty limited these days. There isn't even any fresh fruit on offer anymore so while you're allowed in two hours before your train leaves I recommend not arriving too early. Trains tend to open for boarding 10 to 15 minutes before departure anyway. I noticed the inbound train was a bit late and so I decided to head down to the platform to catch it arriving. King's Cross train shed is really something and a timeless design. Even these new Azuma trains don't look out of place here. We're traveling on an older Intercity 225 set today. Nine BR Mark IV coaches led by a class 91 locomotive. These were the first electric express trains to run on the east coast. Delivery is a deliberate callback to the original classic intercity scheme these trains debuted in back in 1989. With a twist LNER have added a deep burgundy instead of black and I have to say it looks great. I'm traveling in Coach K today. This is an off-peak train and won't be busy but I always sit here on these trains. Coach K is where the onboard hosts start their service from as it's where the kitchen is. The seats are arranged in first class in a 2 plus 1 configuration. There are some nice paired seats face to face as well as tables of four for bigger parties or maybe sociable strangers and a smaller number of solo seats for the individual traveler. Standard class is in a 2 plus 2 configuration with much tighter seat pitch. It's still more comfortable than the newer Azumas in my opinion and I'm guessing a lot of people in the comments will have an opinion on the comfort of the Azumas. We are just about to leave King's Cross station but first a word from our sponsor and to let you know how I booked today's tickets. Today's video sponsor is TrainPal, a fully accredited UK train ticket booking site which will help you save loads of money on your train travel. Now to make today's video I booked my tickets using TrainPal which comes with some pretty serious advantages. Now I really wanted to make sure I traveled on a 225 set for today's video and I'd booked for the 10.33 departure but when I found out that had been substituted for a newer train I was able to change my tickets on TrainPal for no fee whatsoever. That's because I used my special code WINGINIT77 to upgrade my rail card. This gave me TrainPal plus gift. It's free and it gets me 10 free changes or refunds. That's up to £100 in value because if you want to refund or change your ticket and you've bought it directly from the retailer or from a station ticket office it will cost you up to £10 for every change or refund you do. What's more and this is really important, if you don't have a rail card yet you can get 34% off the purchase of a rail card by using a different code WINGINIT. The other great thing about TrainPal is it uses innovative split ticketing technology. Now heading home from Leeds I needed to get here, Rugby, and yet sure I could just book a free ticket like anybody else. But bear in mind there are no advance fares at all on this fare flow you need to split to get those savings. I paid just £32.30 instead of the regular off-peak single fare thanks to my rail card and splitting a mega saving of over 50%. So a quick recap, this is the best deal ever for TrainPal. Whether you bought your rail card from TrainPal or not you can upgrade it to TrainPal plus gift for £0 with code WINGINIT77. With this you enjoy 10 time free refunds and changes within the expiration date. You also get 3% off bus coupons on railway strike days and if you haven't got a rail card yet use code WINGINIT to get 34% off any type of rail card. We have just left London so far behind now we're doing 125 miles an hour through Hertfordshire and one of the big perks of traveling LNER first class is you don't just get all the extra space you also get a light breakfast if you're traveling at this time of day so let's take a look at today's menu. Some peak morning services have a more substantial dining menu which includes a cooked breakfast but this one departing in the late morning has only lighter options and service starts very shortly after departure. It's not bad but nothing like the service was when these trains first entered service. Bring back the restaurant cars I say! How Britain has changed in my lifetime! I'd already had breakfast and to be honest the blueberry oats are the nicest thing on the menu. You should also get a drink refill after every major stop on the route. Wi-Fi on LNER is free for everyone and works pretty well in my experience. Unlike the seats in standard class the first class ones have a modest recline. There are power sockets at every seat and there's a curtain too if you get bored of the view. You shouldn't need them but there are some reading lights in the overhead racks. There's an information screen at the carriage ends which actually spends most of its time displaying adverts. Anyway if you are taking a big bag it's best to leave it at the luggage racks at the vestibule doors but space is limited and try not to take anything too large with you if you can avoid it. Our first stop after 47 minutes and 76 miles is Peterborough and keep an eye out on the right for the old railway tarpaulin warehouses which are now of course shops and offices. The run from Peterborough to Doncaster is the fastest stretch on our trip today averaging over 100 miles per hour even accounting for the acceleration away and braking towards the two stations. We also pass Grantham where Margaret Thatcher was born. She was the Prime Minister when this train made its debut in 1989. Doncaster is a new city and chartered as one only last year by the King. As we leave a sad sight though as these cross-country HST Mark 3 carriages are sitting here having been sadly retired. Also at Doncaster a new platform zero which opened in 2016. It's numbered zero so it didn't affect the rest of the station platform numbering. There are now several of these platform zeros in Britain including one at King's Cross, Marshgate Junction and our place to turn to the east and head to Leeds while the main branch of the east coast main line heads north to York. This is going to sound really bizarre but it Our penultimate stop is Wakefield Westgate and a glimpse of the other station serving the city, Kirkgate, which has the distinction of being Wakefield's first station opening in 1840. Kirkgate used to be known as England's most run-down station but was happily tidied up a lot about 10 years ago. LNER First Class is still great value for money if you travel off peak and buy in advance. The Leeds route tends to be cheaper than the line up to Newcastle and Scotland and I got my First Class advance single ticket from TrainPal for £38.85 including my rail card discount. If you don't have a rail card that'll work out at £58.30. The prices are dynamic and quota controlled so being early to book is key. Standard class would have been £22.40 on this train for me or £34 if I didn't have a rail card. Thank you so much for watching and don't forget whether you bought your rail card from TrainPal or not you can upgrade it to TrainPal Plus Gift for £0 with code WINGINIT77 and if you don't have a rail card yet get 34% off the purchase of one with code WINGINIT. Download the app now using the link in the description. Cheers and I'll see you in the next video.